Al-Jazeera Journalist Freed After Israeli Force Took Him From Al-Shifa Hospital Yesterday (Photo on X إسماعيل الغول - Ismail Alghoul)

The Israeli military released Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul after it arrested the journalist from inside the Al-Shifa hospital while he was covering the Israeli offensive in the area. Al Jazeera media network had issued a statement on Monday demanding the immediate release of its journalist. The statement said that the broadcast vehicles and cameras were destroyed by the military when they took the journalist away. It also noted that Mr Al-Ghoul along with his crew were dragged away, and severely beaten by the military, according to eyewitnesses.

However, after Mr Al-Ghoul’s 12 hours of arrest, he explained that the Israeli forces destroyed their equipment, stripped them of their clothes and forced them to lie on their stomachs as they were blindfolded and their hands tied. The soldiers were opening fire to scare the journalists when there were movements from their sides.

The Qatar-based media network in its statement on Monday wrote that the Israeli is complexly “responsible for the safety” of the journalist. It noted that the targeting of the network’s journalists serves as an intimidation tactic against journalists to deter them from reporting the “horrific crimes committed by occupation forces” against innocent Palestinians.

Following the journalist arrest, there were condemnations from media watchdogs and professionals. Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the International Press Institute (IPI) raised their voice against the Al Jazeera journalist’s arrest. In a statement, Scott Griffen, the deputy director of the IPI had called for the immediate release of Mr Al-Ghoul while expressing alarm over the journalist’s arrest. The chief executive officer of the CPJ Jodie Ginsberg opined that with the journalist”s arrest, the people’s ability to understand what is happening in Gaza decreases considerably.

Notably, according to the media houses, Al-Shifa Hospital is one of the bases for journalists to report the ongoing war in Gaza, and from here the journalists are trying to deliver news from the strip. Mansour Shouman, a citizen journalist from the strip said that the hospitals are one of few places that will have generators, helping them with accessing internet connection.